It certainly makes for an interesting tableau: the singer scowling at the bladdered wankers clambering onstage to dance like goons and be escorted off by weary Garage staff. Seems even David Gedge can’t stand [a]Wedding Present[/a] fans.
That’s the constituency of the audience here tonight, old fans of Gedge‘s seminal C86 outfit come to catch their hero in his ‘new’ guise, fronting this limp, club-footed indie-pop folly. Tedious jangle, insipid synth wheezes, strikingly workmanlike lyrics – surely you’d grow out of such unedifying entertainments? Judging by the balding pates and expanding paunches on display, this is not the case.
If, as [I]This Is Spinal Tap[/I] suggested, rock’n’roll is a state of permanent adolescence, then Cinerama are forever tear-stricken students swaying drunkenly at their Freshers Balls as their estranged girlfriends shag anything with a spine 200 miles away. How anyone could get emotional solace from Gedge‘s shrivelled, self-pitying retching is as mysterious as how girlfriend Sally Murrell consents to play on Gedge‘s laments for lost loves.
The tunes, from ‘Hard Fast And Beautiful’ to new single ‘Manhattan’, are flimsy and forgettable, recalling The Housemartins fighting a losing battle with the ebola virus, or perhaps Sleeper fronted by Adrian Mole. Yes, it was [I]that [/I]good.